Thursday, October 15, 2015

Tea Equipage in 18th Century America

In the 18th
century tea drinking was an established social custom with a recognized
etiquette and distinctive equipage as we know from the pictures and
writings of the period. At teatime men and women gathered to pursue
leisurely conversations and enjoy the sociability of the home.

Throughout the 18th century the
well-equipped tea table would have displayed most of the items seen in this
painting: a teapot, slop bowl, container for milk or cream, tea canister, sugar
container, tongs, teaspoons, and cups and saucers. These pieces were basic to
the tea ceremony and, with the addition of a tea urn which came into use during
the latter part of the 18th century, have remained the established tea equipage
up to the present day.

Teapot stand, Chelsea, England, 1759-1769

Tea furnishings, when in use, were
to be seen upon rectangular tables with four legs, square-top and circle-top
tripods, and Pembroke tables. Such tables were, of course, used for other
purposes, but a sampling of 18th-century Boston inventories reveals that in
some households all or part of the tea paraphernalia was prominently displayed
on the tea table rather than being stored in cupboards or closets.The most popular type of tea table
apparently was the circular tripod; that is, a circular top supported on a
pillar with three feet. This kind of table is seen again and again in the
prints and paintings and is listed in the inventories of the period. These
tables, usually of walnut or mahogany, had stationary or tilt tops with plain,
scalloped, or carved edges.

In addition, trays or teaboards of
various sizes and shapes were sometimes used. They were usually circular or
rectangular in form, occasionally of shaped or scalloped outline. Some trays
were supported upon low feet; others had pierced or fretwork galleries or edges
to prevent the utensils from slipping off. Wood or metal was the usual
material, although ceramic trays were also used. At large gatherings a tray was
often employed for passing refreshments. . . Whether placed on a bare or
covered table, it arrived with the various pieces such as cups and saucers,
spoons, containers for sugar and cream or milk, tongs, bowls, and dishes
arranged about the teapot.

Table cloths—usually square white
ones that showed folds from having been stored in a linen press—were used when
tea was served, but it is difficult to say with any certainty if their use
depended upon the whim of the hostess, the type of table, or the time of day. A
cloth probably was used more often on a table with a plain top than on one with
scalloped or carved edges. However. . . it was perfectly acceptable to serve
tea on a plain-top table without a cloth.

The Tea Service—

Throughout
the 18th century the well-equipped tea table would have displayed most
of the items seen in this painting (below): a teapot, slop bowl, container for
milk or cream, tea canister, sugar container, tongs, teaspoons, and cups
and saucers. These pieces were basic to the tea ceremony and, with the
addition of a tea urn which came into use during the latter part of the
18th century, have remained the established tea equipage up to the
present day.

Such tea furnishings of ceramic were
sold in sets; that is, all pieces being of the same pattern. Newspaper
advertisements in the 1730’s specifically mention “Tea Setts,” and later in the
century ceramic imports continue to include “beautiful compleat Tea-Setts”. In
the early 18th century, tea sets of silver were uncommon if not actually
unique. . .

English Pearlware Tea Bowl & Saucer 1790

The pieces of tea equipage could be
purchased individually. For instance, teacups and saucers, which are
differentiated in advertisements from both coffee and chocolate cups, regularly
appear in lists of ceramic wares offered for sale, such as “very handsome Setts
of blue and white China Tea-Cups and Saucers,” or “enamell’d, pencill’d and
gilt, red and white, blue and white, enamell’d and scallop’d, teacups and
saucers.” These adjectives used by 18th-century salesmen usually referred to
the types and the colors of the decorations that were painted on the pieces.

Porcelain, however, had long been a
part of China-trade cargos to Europe and from there to America. The early
shipments of tea had included such appropriate vessels for the storage,
brewing, and drinking of the herb as tea jars, teapots, and teacups. The latter
were small porcelain bowls without handles, a form which the Europeans and
Americans adopted and continued to use throughout the 18th century for tea, in
contrast to the deeper and somewhat narrower cups, usually with handles, in
which chocolate and coffee were served.

Whatever the ware, the teacups and
saucers, whether on a tray, the cloth, or a bare table, were usually arranged
in an orderly manner about the teapot, generally in rows on a rectangular table
or tray and in a circle on a round table or tray. . . Generally, cups and
saucers were not piled one upon the other but spread out on the table or tray
where they were filled with tea and then passed to each guest.

Tea chest, sugar, creamer,
teaspoons, and tongs.

Teaspoons, when in use, might be
placed on the saucer or left in the cups. . .Teaspoons also were placed in a
pile on the table or in a silver “Boat for Tea Spoons,” or more often in such
ceramic containers as “Delph Ware ... Spoon Trays,” or blue-and-white or
penciled china “spoon boats.” Shallow dishes . . . and
hemispherical bowls were used as containers for sugar. Often called “sugar
dishes” or just “sugars,” they were available in delftware, glass and silver as
well as in blue-and-white, burnt, enameled, and penciled china. … Tongs were
especially suited for lifting the lumps of sugar from their container to the
teacup.

Containers for cream or milk may be
seen in many of the 18th-century teatime pictures and are found in the
advertisements of the period under a variety of names…There were cream pails,
urns, and ewers of silver plate, and plated cream basins “gilt inside.” Milk
pots, used on some tea tables instead of cream containers. . .

Silver strainer made by James Butler,of Boston, about 1750

Often a medium-sized bowl, usually
hemispherical in shape, is to be seen on the tea table, and it is most likely a
slop bowl or basin. According to advertisements these bowls and basins were
available in silver, pewter, and ceramic. Before a teacup was replenished, the
remaining tea and dregs were emptied into the slop bowl. Then the cup might be
rinsed with hot water and the rinsing water discarded in the bowl. The slop
basin may also have been the receptacle for the mote or foreign particles—then
inherent in tea but now extracted by mechanical means—that had to be skimmed
off the beverage in the cup. . . No doubt, tea strainers were also used to insure
clear tea. The tea dregs might then be discarded in the slop bowl or left in
the strainer and the strainer rested on the bowl.

The teapot was, of course, the very
center of the social custom of drinking tea; so, it usually was found in the
center of the tray or table. At first, only teapots of Oriental origin imported
with the cargos of tea were available, for the teapot had been unknown to
Europeans before the introduction of the beverage. However, as tea gained
acceptance as a social drink and the demand for equipage increased, local
craftsmen were stimulated to produce wares that could compete with the Chinese
imports. Teapots based on Chinese models and often decorated with Chinese
motifs were fashioned in ceramic and silver. No doubt many an 18th-century
hostess desired a silver teapot to grace her table and add an elegant air to
the tea ceremony.

Tea kettle with lamp stand.

By the end of the century “an
elegant silver tea-pot with an ornamental lid, resembling a Pine-apple” would
have been the wish of a fashion-conscious hostess. Less expensive than silver,
but just as stylish according to the merchants’ advertisements were “newest
fashion teapots” of pewter or, in the late 18th century, Britannia metal
teapots. The latest mode in ceramic ware also was to be found upon the tea
table.

Sometimes the teapot, whether
ceramic, pewter, or silver, was placed upon a dish or small, tile-like stand
with feet. These teapot stands served as insulation by protecting the surface
of the table or tray from the damaging heat of the teapot. Stands often were
included in tea sets but also were sold individually. . .The stands must have
been especially useful when silver equipage was set on a bare table top; many
of the silver teapots of elliptical shape with a flat base, so popular in the
latter part of the 18th century, had matching stands raised on short legs to
protect the table from the expanse of hot metal. On occasion the teapot was
placed on a spirit lamp or burner to keep the beverage warm.

Urn for hot water.

In most instances it was the hot water kettle that sat upon a spirit lamp or burner rather than a teapot. Kettles were
usually related to the form of contemporary teapots, but differed in having a
swing handle on top and a large, rather flat base that could be placed over the
flame. Advertisements mention teakettles of copper, pewter, brass, and silver,
some “with lamps and stands.” The actual making of tea was part of the ceremony
and was usually done by the hostess at the tea table. This necessitated a ready
supply of boiling water close at hand to properly infuse the tea and, as
Ferdinand Bayard reported, it also “weakens the tea or serves to clean up the
cups.” Thus, the kettle and burner on their own individual table or stand were
placed within easy reach of the tea table. According to 18th-century pictures
the kettle was an important part of the tea setting, but it seldom appeared on
the tea table. . . The square stands often had a slide on which to place the
teapot when the hot water was poured into it.

The tea canister, a storage
container for the dry tea leaves, was yet another piece of equipment to be
found on the table or tray. Ceramic canisters of blue and white, and red and
gold, could be purchased to match other tea furnishings of the same ware, and
silver tea canisters often were fashioned to harmonize with the silver teapots
of the period. Individual canisters were produced, as well as canisters in sets
of two or three. A set of canisters usually was kept in the box in which it
came, a case known as a tea chest or tea caddy, such as the “elegant assortment
of Tea-caddies, with one, two and three canisters” advertised in 1796. Canister
tops if dome-shaped were used to measure out the tea and transfer it to the
teapot. Otherwise, small, short-handled spoons with broad, shallow bowls known
as caddy spoons and caddy ladles were used. However handled, the tea could have
been any one of the numerous kinds available in the 18th century.

Tea by George Dunlop Leslie (1835 - 1921)

Do you have a tea service or any special tea equipage? What is your favorite flavor of tea? Do you brew it from loose leaf leaves or do you use tea bags?

1 comment:

I really enjoyed learning about the "proper tea", thanks for sharing Carla.

I don't have a tea service but I do have several tea pots and tea cups/saucers. Mostly I use tea bags. I love herbal teas (decaf only for me), my favorite is the Pomegranate-Raspberry Herbal tea and Lady Gray from Twinings Tea. Years ago my son/daughter-in-law gave me loose tea, Cranberry-Orange Herbal Tea, that is delicious. I drank it sparingly so it would last longer. I have not been able to find more of it.